Kissed by a Rose
by Marine L. Girard
Summary: It is just a normal day after work for Rufus Shinra, but what happens when a strange girl stumbles into the Seventh Heaven bar and he involuntarily reacts in a way he never thought he would? RufusxOC. RufusPOV. post Advent Children.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fan-fiction in first person, so please, bear with me. I might miss a few things like clothes descriptions or explainations of what is going on, but that is what reviews are for, right? Please review and tell me what you think. I would like to know what people have to say so I can improve my writing. Thanks, now...enjoy! (Yes, I did use the song by Seal-"Kiss by a Rose" for my title, I am completely aware of that.)

Disclaimer: I absolutely hate these things because it is obvious that I did not create or own Final Fantasy, otherwise I would not be writing a fan-fiction on it. But, since it is required by Terms of Service, here goes...I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY, I only own Adelita. (Thank God that's over with.)

**IDIOTS! THIS STORY IS FINISHED! STOP PUTTING ALERTS ON IT!! IT'S ANNOYING!**

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Part 1 Adelita

Her name was Adelita, or Adela for short. I did not know how my life would change when I left for the bar that night. Just a normal Friday, finish work, leave the office late, get a few drinks at the bar, and head home. It was nothing new, same old same old. The one thing that I was not counting on was a surprise visit. I hate surprises, but this one was different. It brought to me feelings that I had never known before; I liked it. She was the one thing that I never expected.

I sat at the bar, finishing off my first drink of the evening. I set the glass back on the table and the barmaid, Tifa, came and refilled it for me with some more scotch. I thanked her and she continued down the counter, wiping up spilled beer and handing out more drinks. The newly filled glass was almost to my lips when the door to the bar opened up and everyone inside went silent. I turned around on the bar stool I sat on and saw a young girl, probably no older than sixteen or seventeen, stumble inside. Her clothes were torn almost to shreds, she had bruises everywhere, and she was bleeding from a few cuts and scrapes. She looked downright dreadful and sounded the same when she forced out a few words. "H-help me…please…"

I sat there, staring at this girl, who was from Costa del Sol by the looks of her, with a full glass of scotch in my hand, unable to fully understand what was happening. Tifa set down the rag she had been using to wipe the counter and stepped out from behind the bar. She knelt down next to the girl and asked the girl what was wrong. The girl broke out crying and Tifa wiped away the tears that fell from her dark eyes. Tifa knew she was not going to get anything from the girl at that moment so she offered something else instead.

"There, there," she said, helping the girl to her feet and covering her with her apron. "You can stay here for the night if you like."

I quickly downed my glass of scotch and jumped off the bar stool. Placing my hand on Tifa's shoulder, I shook my head. "No, I'll take her in." I do not know what made me do this. I had never shown compassion to anyone before, why should this girl be any different? Yet there was something about her, I still do not know what, that made me feel something. Some remorse, some shame, but why? I never felt like I had reason to until now. But what was my reason?

Tifa looked at me disbelievingly. "Rufus, are you sure?" I nodded and gave a rare smile, but she still did not believe me. I took the girl from her regardless and removed the apron. Handing it back to Tifa, I removed my white cotton jacket and placed it over the girl. I placed my arm around the her waist to help her walk and we headed out the door of the Seventh Heaven bar and to my car that sat next to a parking meter on the side of the road. I opened the passenger-side door and helped her in the front seat, then I buckled her seatbelt, shut the door, and ran around to the other side of the car. Settling into the driver's seat, I drove out of Midgar to my suite up in Healin. When I arrived, Reno was there with that damned arrogant smirk on his face and usual.

"Another one down for the count, boss?" he asked in a teasing voice as I helped the girl out of the car. I would have given anything for him not to have been there that night, but it was his night for guard duty and he was the only one there so I had no right to complain.

"No, now get out of my way." I growled at him and shoved at his shoulder as I walked past.

As if unmarred by my annoyance, he followed me like a dog at my heels. "Who is she? You probably wouldn't know, you never do. If you haven't spoken for her, can I take her?" Same old Reno, always trying to get a girl into bed.

Angry, I rounded on him and grabbed his shirt front, pulling him in closer so I could yell right in his face. "Damn it, Reno! Shut up! She's not mine and she's not yours! She belongs to no one, now get your skinny ass away from me and go back to your duties before I give you work for the weekend!" That last threat was good enough for him. He turned around and walked off, muttering under his breath as he went. To make Reno come to work on a weekend was the worst thing anyone could do to him, so he thought. It was the perfect way to make him leave if he was being the shithead that he always was. Unfortunately for the other Turks, I was the only one who could threaten him that way and he would actually believe me. He would not joke around about it.

I brought the girl up to my suite and set her in the extra room that I had. I then left to the bathroom and grabbed a bar of soap and a wet wash towel and returned to see her stare at me quizzically. Holding up the items I had brought, I asked her if it would be okay if I helped her clean up. She nodded her head and I proceeded to clean her wounds. When the soap touched the cuts, she winced at the sting but she did not withdraw. I was gentle and thorough, something I had never been before. Thorough, yes; gentle, no. I could not figure out why I was acting so different towards this girl then I did towards everyone else, but something made me feel like I could, something in those eyes, those deep, beautifully brown eyes, said that I did not have to use threats or force to get things done. Yet I still did not know why I had taken her here in the first place.

I finished cleaning what I could, then went to my room to find some clothes. I found some polyester pajamas of mine and returned with them only to find that the girl had fallen fast asleep. Smiling, I set the pajamas down on a chair and picked her up then removed the covers of the bed and set her down. Covering her with the sheets, I left the room and turned out the lights. _Tomorrow, _I thought. _Tomorrow I will find out who she is._

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She was up before me the next day. I awoke and went into the kitchen to see her standing by the stove in the pajamas I had left for her. She was cooking breakfast, or, at least I believe it was breakfast. Possibly a native Costan breakfast but I did not care; it smelled delicious so I ate it anyway.

"What time is it?" I asked. I did not bother with a "good morning." I never had to and did not think I had to now.

She cocked her head to the side, as if thinking, before she answered. "It is eleven minus fifteen in the morning."

I frowned at her answer. "You mean ten forty-five in the morning," I corrected. She just nodded and handed me a plate of food. I took it and sat down at the kitchen table; picking up a fork and poking at it. "What is this?" I asked coldly. It looked rather odd to me.

She replied with one word. "Omelet," she said. I shrugged. I had never seen an omelet like this, but it was an omelet nonetheless so I figured it would be okay. She sat down in the chair next to me as I took a bite. I tasted the egg and the cheese and there was the distinct grainy texture of potatoes, but there was something else as well. It tasted sweet and bitter at the same time. At first I quickly dismissed it, but then my mouth began to burn, it burned like a small fire was alight in my mouth. Dropping my fork, I rose to my feet, startled that a simple omelet could do this.

"Water!" I demanded. She went to the refrigerator instead and handed me a glass of milk. "I said water, dammit! Give me water!" I was angry and my true self was emerging again. Or was it my true self? I was having trouble understanding myself and the feelings that I was feeling. I immediately regretted yelling at her and hoped that she would not be angry with me.

She shoved the glass of milk at me again. "Milk works better," she insisted. Frustrated and just wanting to get rid of the fire in my mouth, I took the glass from her small hand and poured the cool liquid in my mouth. Almost immediately, my tongue cooled down and the burning feeling was gone. She had been right, the milk worked very well.

Relatively calm now, I sat down and took another bite, this one was not as bad as the first one but it still burned so I took another sip of milk. Again, the burning feeling left. "What is your name?" I suddenly found myself asking her.

"Adelita," she replied as she sat down again. "Please, call me Adela."

I nodded. "Very well, Adela, how did you come to be at the bar last night?" She became very quiet when I asked her that, I could tell she had a very long story to tell. Oddly enough, I wanted to know that story. I wanted to know everything about her, what made her laugh, and what made her cry; her likes and her dislikes, everything.

"I…" She faltered. "I grew up in Costa Del Sol. My father left my mother and me when I was a baby and my mother died from a strange desease when I was thirteen. When she died, I came here looking for my father." She stopped there but I knew there was more to the story.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Sixteen. I've been in Midgar for three years." I could have figured that out myself but I guess she felt the need to say it. Finally, after a long, drawn-out silence, she continued with her story. "I hadn't found any trace of my father since I had arrived and I was beginning to give up. I was low on money and I was hungry. A man came by and offered his services. I agreed and went with him to the slums. There, we met with his friends and I began to grow uncomfortable under their greedy stares."

I sat, I listened, very quietly, to her tale. Very reluctantly, she spoke of how the men grabbed at her and tried to rape her. She told of her narrow escape before they could do anything and how she had ran all the way to the Seventh Heaven bar, thinking that the men had given up long ago but was not willing to take the chance. Her story ended there and we sat in silence for a few minutes before I stood and took my plate to the sink.

"Don't worry, Adela. You're safe with me. The Turks take good care of me and they will take good care of you as well, just as long as I order them to."

She stared at me. "They take orders from you?" She seemed surprised.

I nodded. "Yes, I am their boss."

"I see."

Satisfied, I left the kitchen and went to my bedroom. I grabbed my phone and dialed a number. I heard it ring twice before a female voice answered. "Yes?"

"Elena? This is Rufus; could you come over for a moment? I need your help with something."

There was a pause. "What do you need help with?"

I sighed. "Well, it's more like someone, but please, just get over here quickly." I hung up without waiting for an answer. She would come, she always did. Good Elena, I could always depend on her even if I never showed it, I trusted her as one of my best Turks. Her and Tseng, they were both good people.

--

Adelita is the pet name for Adela. It is most commonly used in Mexico where it is the name of a folk song about a female soldier. The omelet Adela gave Rufus is called a _tortilla, _or a Spanish Omelet. I can't remember exactly what is in it, but I do know that there is egg, cheese, possible potatoes, and chile if you want it. And yes, milk does work best, I've done it myself. Rufus called Elena over so she could take Adela shoping for some good clothes (I bet you were wondering so I thought I'd tell you now because it doesn't get explained later on, sorry).


	2. Chapter 2

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that I was going to make this a rather short story because if I make it long, I might never finish it because I am very lazy and have a short attention span. I was originally going to make it just three parts but I think i might end up being four instead. Oh well...

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Part 2How it Began

It began a year later. Adela was seventeen now and still slept in my extra bedroom. I had discovered who her father was a long time ago but had not been able to tell her that he was, in fact, my own Turk, Rude. I could not even tell Rude.

Summer had come and the night was warm but I was not aware of this. I slept fitfully that night. I was dreaming, dreaming of the day when the tower exploded while I was still on it. I thought I was going to die then and I hated reliving it but I had this dream frequently. This time was different, however, and it is what started it all.

_AVALANCHE was attacking the towers, I was angry, very angry. I had run all the way to the top of one, but I did not know why my legs had taken me there. I looked up and saw there ship cirlcing around to fire again and I frowned. I knew they were going to fire at the very tower I stood on but I could not move. They fired, I could see the missle leave the gun fastned to the belly of the ship and fly strait towards me. I tried to run but my legs would not move. It was too late for me then, the missle collided with the tower and the reactor exploded and my body was caught in a wave of flame and heat. I cried out in pain, and then…I awoke._

I sat up in my bed, screaming. The dream again, it made sweat break out from every pore in my body. Swinging my legs out of bed, I tried to calm myself down, and then I felt it, the cold. It bit at my skin and made me shiver. I did not understand it, why was I so cold? Maybe it was because of the drastic temperature change between the dreams and now, I did not know. I hugged my bare chest for warmth, the sweat was not helping my case and neither were the sheets, they felt cold as ice to the touch. I began to shake violently; I just could not get warm. The window was open and I felt the cool night breeze enter and lightly brush against my back. It stung and I could feel the goose bumps rise up on the back of my neck and face.

Then she came in, Adela. I heard the creak of the door and looked up to see her, barely wearing anything at all, walk in with a worried expression on her face. Her silk nightdress was short, just stopping in the middle of her thighs and one of her string straps had slipped off her shoulder and rested on her arm. Her dark tan skin seemed to glow in the moonlight and her dark hair shined like her silk nightdress as it cascaded down her shoulders and back.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, sounding a little agitated. Somehow, I could not stop looking at her.

"I heard you cry. Is everything alright?" Her voice was sweet and caring, something I was not used to and did not want at the moment.

I broke away from her gaze. "I am fine. Now please, leave me." She did not. The sweat on my body had dried but I still could not stop shaking. Suddenly, I felt warm fingers touch my frozen cheek and I looked up to see her standing there staring down at me. I did not like it; I hated it when people looked down on me. I wanted them to look up at me, not down. But she looked down and it made me feel uncomfortable. I stared at her, oh how beautiful she looked with only the light of the moon's glow on her bare skin. She sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around me, her warm skin touched my cold skin and I jumped and twitched suddenly. She hugged me tighter and ran her fingers through my sandy blonde hair. My face rested on her chest and moved with her steady breathing; I could hear her heart beat quietly through her chest. I did not want her to let go, I wanted to stay there forever in her arms.

Could the comfort of this young woman, this girl, the daughter of my subordinate, really mean that much to me? She was young, she was beautiful, and she was kind. She would only disobey an order from me if the opposite was what was best for me. For the first time in my life, I realized I was in love and I wanted her to know it, to understand it. I turned my head and began to kiss her neck; she did not object. I then removed her other strap from her shoulder, still no reaction. I moved my lips up her neck and along the jaw line, laying her down on the bed as I did so. Finally, my lips touched hers and she seemed to like it, to want it, for she did not resist but allowed it.

"Rufus…" she moaned my name softly as I went back to kissing her neck.

"Sshhh…" I said, silencing her instantly. Because she was only seventeen, I was easily eight years her senior, but I did not care, I wanted her. She was everything I did not know I ever wanted.

We crawled under the sheets and I removed the rest of her nightdress. This time, she kissed me. I was caught off guard at this sudden action but continued anyway. She let me do what I wanted, never complaining, just going along with my movements. I went lower, kissing her subtle breasts then moving down to the bellybutton. She allowed it, running her hands through my hair as she did before, then sliding them down my bare back as I came back up and kissed her soft, moist lips again; my tongue darting in and out of her mouth as hers did the same. I now realized that I had wanted to do this for a long time but never noticed I had that urge nagging me in the back of my mind. This is what I wanted and I prayed, to what I have no idea, that she would never be taken away from me. I loved her too much.

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I awoke the next morning to the sun shining on my face. Opening my eyes, I turned my head to look at Adela. She was asleep, facing me; the sheets covering her naked body. The sunlight fell on her dark skin and hair giving it a shine that would entrance any man. I leaned in and kissed her closed eyes and smiled; she did not wake up. Getting out of bed, I put my pants back on and walked out of the room to the kitchen. I made myself a pot of coffee, then poured myself a cup and sat at the table to read the newspaper.

Once I found an article worth reading, the doorbell rang. I sighed then stood up to answer it. Opening the door, I looked outside to see Rude standing there with a flower in his hand. I thought this strange but let him in anyway. "What's with the flower?" I asked as I sat back down at the table and picked up my cup of coffee again.

Rude shrugged. "Reno asked me to give it to Adela."

I took another sip of coffee. "Figures, he's been trying to get her in bed ever since he first saw her."

Rude still held the flower in his hand. "Where is she?" he asked.

"Still asleep," I answered a little too quickly. He glared at me through his dark glasses then set the flower on the table in front of me.

"Could you give this to her, then?" he requested, then turned to leave.

I looked at the flower then up at Rude. "Hold on, Rude." He turned around and I motioned for him to sit. He did so and I set my cup down on the table. "I need to speak with you…about Adela." I could see he was curious, even though I could not see his eyes. Rude had to find out sooner or later that she was his daughter, I figured now would be the best time so I just came out with it; to hell with beating around the bush. "Adela, she's…well, she' your daughter."

He stared at me, silent for the longest time, before he came out with a response. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I did background checks on both you and her and I also snuck in some DNA tests. You are her biological father." He said nothing, nor did he move. He was silent as a stone, silent and unmovable.

When he finally spoke, his voice was cold and sharp. "How long have you known?"

"About three months. Sorry, I couldn't bring myself to tell you until now." Why was I apologizing?

"Does she know?"

I shook my head. "No, not yet." As if on cue, Adela emerged from my bedroom. She looked tired but happy at the same time and she had not bothered with getting dressed but just wrapped the sheets around her body and took them with her.

"Rufus? There you are. So this is why there was an empty space in the bed next to me," she said, a little groggy. I do not think she seemed to notice that Rude was there. I could feel my face flush when she arrived. I looked at Rude; his skin seemed to have turned a shade lighter than normal at this sight. He looked from me, to her, then back to me, looking like he just now noticed that I looked like I got dressed in a hurry. Suddenly, he slammed his hands down on the table, making Adela jump, and then stood up sharply.

"I see, I understand now," he said simply. Then, giving me one last glare, he walked out of the apartment, not even looking back to shut the door. This was not like Rude at all.

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If Rufus is eight years older than Adela and Adela is seventeen, that would make Rufus, drumroll please twenty-five! Good job, you did math!! I wanted Adela to be young, but not too young and not too old because I wanted Rude to be her dad. I thought it best to make Rude around thirty-seven or thirty-eight in this because then he would be about twenty or twenty-one when Adela was born but then left to be a Turk.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3Father and Daughter

The day after I broke the news to Rude, I walked into work to see that everyone was giving me strange looks. I tried to ignore them but the difficulty of that was high. I walked through the Turk offices to find that this was the root of it all. I walked past Reno, who, when he caught sight of me, made a face that made him look like he had just swallowed a whale. Elena, too, gave me an odd look; she stared at me like I had two heads. Tseng seemed to be the normal one. When he saw me, he just glanced up at me from some papers in his hand then back as he normally did. When I came across Rude, I realized what this was all about. I waved a good morning to him but he just grunted and pretended that he had not seen me at all. In fact, he made it priority to avoid me all day. I could not understand what had caused this strange behavior in my staff until I remembered the events of the morning before. Of course, I slept with Rude's daughter. He would have talked to Reno about Adela and me, then Reno would have blabbed to Elena and from there, it was an explosion of gossip that no one could stop. I cursed Reno's talkativeness and retreated to my office where I stayed the rest of the day, not even leaving for the toilet.

When noon rolled around, I was so caught up in my work that the thought of lunch was far away and when the ring of my office phone on my oak desk cut through the silence, I nearly jumped several feet in the air in astonishment. Looking at the small screen displayed on the phone, I read the word "floor." I thought it was strange that the floor receptionist would call me but I picked up the receiver anyway and placed the phone to my ear and mouth. "President Shinra speaking," I said uniformly.

"Sir, there's a girl here for you," the receptionist spoke a little awkwardly. "She says she brought you lunch." I frowned. What was he talking about?

"Did she say who she was?" I pressed for more clarification.

"Hold on a minute, sir." I could hear some talking in the background but could not make out what the people were saying, and then the receptionist came back on. "Um, she says her name is Adela. She wouldn't give me a last name but she just told me that you would know who she was."

I felt a smile creep across my face at the sound of Adela's name. "Does she look to be around seventeen with dark hair, dark skin, and dark eyes?" There was a short pause on the other end of the line before the receptionist answered with a confused "yes." I let out a small chuckle. "Send her up," I ordered.

The man at the receptionist table began to argue. "But sir-."

"Send her up," I repeated, interrupting him.

He sighed and gave an exasperated "yes sir" and hung up the phone.

"This is unexpected," I mused, leaning back in my padded swivel chair. She arrived ten minutes later, carrying a small, cardboard box under her right arm. "How did you get here?" was my first question as she poked her head inside the door. She had no car that I knew of and Healin was too far away to walk from. She entered and shrugged.

"Cloud," she said. I looked at her suspiciously. "He stopped by Healin and I asked him for a ride here. You can't go without a lunch, now, can you?" she added and held up the box. Smiling gratefully, I took the box from her and inhaled deeply. My God! It smelled delicious!

"What did you bring?" I asked, opening the box with care so I did not ruin anything.

Adela shrugged. "Just two beef and bean burritos, a salad, an apple and some lemonade. I know how you hate chili, so I left that out. It should taste good either way." I took the food out of the box, and, when I set them down on my desk, I noticed she fidgeted uncomfortably.

"What's wrong?" I quired. She looked up at my face and swallowed.

"It's nothing, really. Just…" She trailed off, averting her gaze to the floor. "Your staff kept giving me strange looks when I got up here, even the Turks. What was that about?" Startled, I looked down at my food and began to unwrap the carefully wrapped paper towel the burritos were stored in.

"Don't worry, they gave me strange looks as well," I said. "I haven't left my office all day."

She looked at me, confused. "Why-?"

"Rude," I answered to her unasked question. "You remember when he stormed out of the apartment yesterday morning and why? Well, apparently, he told Reno about it, then Reno told Elena and now the whole thing is a big mess."

She nodded. "I see," was all she said but I could tell she wanted to know why Rude had acted as he did aside from just me sleeping with someone. She bowed her head then turned to leave. "I should go. Cloud wanted me to stop by Tifa's bar and see the kids." I stood, my mind unable to control my body anymore, and ran over to her, slipping my arms around her waist and stopping her from opening the door. "Rufus?" Her voice sounded alarmed, confused and curious all at once. She obviously had no idea what I was doing, and neither did I for that matter.

"Don't go," I found myself saying. "I'll take you; we can both visit the bar together. Just, stay with me?" She was so alluring that I could not help myself. I bent my head forward and pressed my lips to her shoulder, lightly kissing the bare skin there. I inhaled her scent as I breathed and she smelled strongly of lavender and chamomile. She took a breath in slight shock then turned around to face me, her face hopeful.

"You mean it? I can stay here with you?" she asked, a tiny bit excited. I nodded and she threw her arms around my neck happily. When she drew back, she looked at me for a few seconds then moved in and pressed her lips to mine. My eyes widened in surprise but slowly closed as I drew her in closer to me and picked her up, beginning to walk backwards towards my desk. I hit the corner of the desk and stopped, the edge of it digging into my thigh. I flipped us around so that she was between me and the desk, then picked her up, brushed some items aside and sat her down on the hard oak. She moaned happily as I moved to lick under her earlobe and slid my hand slowly up her thigh and under her short skirt. My other hand found its way under her perfectly fitted tank top and gently caressed her back. I was about to help her remove her green shirt when there was a loud knock at the door to my office. I jumped, startled, and released Adela.

"Fix yourself, quick," ordered her quietly, and she immediately obeyed my order as I turned to the door and said loudly, "Come in." The door opened and Tseng popped his head in just as Adela had finished straitening her shirt. "What do you want?" I snapped angrily.

Tseng appeared unperturbed by my annoyance as he said, "I need to talk to you for a minute, sir."

I glared at him. "Very well. Fire away."

He glanced quickly at Adela, who made a confused face, and then back at me. "In private," he added and I nodded.

"Adela, could you please stand outside the office for a minute while I speak with Tseng?" I opened the door for her and she walked out. As she passed me, I noticed she had a sad look on her face so I bent down and told her I would see her after I had a quick talk with Tseng. She seemed to brighten at this before hurriedly leaving the room. Shutting the door, I turned to the Turk in front of me and glowered. "Now will you please tell me what this is about?" I demanded.

"Actually, I'm speaking on Rude's behalf." I raised an eyebrow at this but the Wutaian Turk continued anyway. "He wishes you would leave the girl alone. He doesn't want her involved with the company anymore than she has to be."

I interrupted him. "What makes him so protective of her when he just discovered that she existed two days ago?"

"You may have just told him that Adela was his daughter, but he knew he had one all along." Tseng's composer never changed, he kept his face strait and calm. "This is nothing new to him."

"He knew Adela was his daughter?" I was confused. How could he have already known?

"Well, he knew he had a daughter from Costa Del Sol, but he didn't know what she looked like until you told him. He had left her and her mother right after she was born because he said he couldn't take care of either one of them." I crossed my arms across my chest and glared at the man.

"Is that right?" I motioned toward the door. "Thank you for your time, Tseng, but I will not get rid of the girl. However, I will try and keep her away from Shinra problems as much as I can." I opened the door only to find Adela jump back suddenly from the door as if she had been listening in and stare at me, upset. As I asked him to, Tseng left, patting Adela on the head before walking down the hall towards his office.

"You knew," she said after she came back in. I could see she was having trouble holding back tears as she looked at me. "You knew and you didn't tell me. Why?" I did not have an answer. I said nothing but watched as, with every passing second I did not say anything, her tears began to slip free of her eyes. It pained me to see her cry, but I forced myself to look at her as her bottom lip quivered and she looked back at me as if I were someone she did not know, someone she never knew. "How long have you known?" She asked a different question and this time I actually had an answer.

"Three months," I reluctantly told her. I hoped this information would not hurt her any more than she already was, but as soon as the words left my mouth, I saw that my hope was shot down. She could not keep the tears back any longer. They gushed out of her eyes as if a dam had just been broken and she turned away from me.

"Who, exactly, is my father?" she asked, not turning to look at me. I told her it was Rude and she began to cry even harder. She would not speak, or even acknowledge my presence in the room. Timidly, I reached out a hand and touched her shoulder; she flinched at this touch. "Adela, I'm sorry. I would have told you had I found the right way and time. Believe me, hurting you was the last thing I wanted to do."

She whirled around to face me, anger plastered across her tear-stained face. "How do I know that?" she asked angrily. "How do I know you're not lying to me right now?" I tried to reach out and wipe the tears away from her eyes but she swatted my hand away as if it were an annoying insect and bolted out the door.

"Adela, wait!" I cried after her but my cry fell on deaf ears. She did not hear me, too lost in her sorrow was she to comprehend what I was saying. I let out a long, exasperated sigh and followed her out the door, jogging down the hall until I found she had sought comfort in Elena. They were walking slowly down the hall, Adela crying into the young Turk's shoulder and Elena had her arm around Adela and she was speaking soothing words to the young girl. When I arrived, Elena looked up at me and scowled. I stopped in the middle of the hall as Elena and Adela entered Reno and Rude's office. I did not want to cause unwanted anger by being there, so I did not follow them inside. Instead, they had left the door open, so I stood in the doorway and leaned against the doorframe; I listened in on the conversation happening in the small Turk office.

"Is it true, Rude?" I heard Adela ask as Rude held her in his arms as a parent would his child. "Are you my father?"

Rude was silent for a few moments before drawing her head back and kissing her forehead. "Yes," was all he said.

Her voice was shaky when she spoke again. "Wh-why didn't you come back f-for mother and me?" she asked.

He sighed. "When I came here, I had every intention of returning when I had enough money to take care of you." He paused for a moment before continuing. "But I didn't anticipate becoming a Turk. I wanted to come back for years, but my job would not allow me to." Rude looked down at his seventeen-year-old daughter who was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Did you know I was your daughter when we first met?" she asked, her voice sounding like she did not want the answer to be yes.

Her father shook his head. "No." The corners of her mouth moved slightly into a small, almost indistinguishable smile. "I did not."

This time, Elena asked the question. "But how did you not know what she looked like? Surely her mother would have sent you a picture of some sort."

Again, Rude shook his head. "I never received anything of the sort. Adela grew up without me watching." I smiled, she finally found her father. That's what she came here for in the first place, right?

"Congratulations, Adela," I found myself saying. "You found your father." Adela looked at me, her expression hard, and Rude turned his head and glared at me through his sunglasses. I waved them off as I left and headed back to my office. It hurt me to do that, to leave without giving Adela a joyful hug and saying I was happy for her. However, I do not think the others thought the same thing for I could feel their cold stares on my back as I left.

Once in my office, I sat down at my desk and did something I never thought I would ever do. For the first time in my life, I cried.

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I did my best trying to keep the original Final Fantasy characters in character so please forgive me if they leave their character personalities slightly in some parts. I'm not done yet so I hope you enjoyed. Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I am soooooooo sorry this took me so long to upload. I started writing it, then got really busy with school work and had to stop for a while. But now I am out of school so I was able to finish it. If you want to, because this chapter is rather gory, you can make this chapter rated M in your head. I personally think that teenagers of all ages can handle this, but if you have a weak stomach, you don't have to read it.**

**Originally, this was going to be four chapters, then it changed to five, but because this chapter was so long, I had to cut it in half and make it two. So now this story will be six chapters. I hope you all enjoy!!**

Part 4 A Bloody Encounter

It had been seven months since Adela left. The day she had discovered Rude was her father, I returned home to see her room was empty, clothes gone, bed made, and a note saying she had left to live with Reno and Rude in their apartment. All I had done was crumple up the note and tossed it in the garbage can.

I felt very alone with just myself in the apartment. I never realized how empty the apartment was without Adela there. With her gone, I had to resort to attempting to cook my own meals or eating out. Neither one was very appealing without company. I saw Adela very little now; it seemed as if she were trying to avoid me at all costs. She worked at the Seventh Heaven bar after Tifa offered her a job when Rude suggested she get one to help pay rent and he insisted she was old enough to get one anyway. I would stop by every day after work like I used to before I met her to get a drink before heading home, but now I mainly stopped by to see her. I barely spoke to her when she was there and when she wasn't, I just sat quietly and drank my scotch then went home. I knew she came by the Shinra building to give the Turks their lunches every day, however; I was not one close enough to her anymore to receive a lunch and she never stopped by my office.

Today was just like any other day after she left, I came into work-Rude giving me a cold stare behind my back as normal-I did paper work at my desk for a few hours, and then went to several board meetings with the WRO, afterwards returning to boring paper work. By the time lunch rolled around, I was still engrossed in paper work and did not notice the door to my office open and someone awkwardly enter. It was not until they were standing right in from of my desk and gave a slight cough from the back of their throat did I look up with surprise. I looked up and my eyes widened when they settled on the nervous figure of Adela.

"Adela, what are you doing here?" I asked, a little confused, though I think it came out a little bit harsher than I intended.

She fidgeted a little before answering me. "I…brought you lunch." She set a small brown paper bag on my desk then turned to leave. It seemed as if she acted like I had offended her with my question.

I looked at the bag then up at her retreating back. "Why did you bring me lunch?" I asked, sounding a bit too cold.

She turned around, her expression blank, but her eyes portrayed sadness, and, if I was not mistaken, a small bit of hope. "I'm sorry?" she asked. I repeated my question and she gave a slight shrug. "I just hoped that…" She paused. "That we could be friends again." I raised an eyebrow at this but she continued as if she had not seen it. "I'm…tired of being angry at you. I'm tired of trying to avoid you and, truth be told, I'm tired of sleeping on Rude's couch that converts into a bed, and I'm tired of Reno. I'm not getting enough sleep with the two of them combined."

I chuckled a little at her last remark. "He is a big handful, isn't he?" I said after seeing Adela's questioning gaze. She nodded and smiled when I said this, then promptly said something else that surprised me. "I miss you."

I froze. What did she just say? I looked at her, surprise written all over my face. "What?"

"Can I…can I move back in with you?" she asked, catching me completely off guard. "I mean, just as friends?"

It took me quite awhile to comprehend what was going on and when I did, I nodded slowly, still a little shocked and in a bit of denial. She smiled at this then turned to leave.

"Thank you, Rufus," she said happily. "I'll go tell father your answer."

I shook myself out of my momentarily stunned silence. "Wait, Rude knows about this?" I asked.

"Yes. He isn't too happy about it but said it was okay as long as I kept my job at the Seventh Heaven."

"Oh," was all I said, all I could say. My insides were leaping with joy but outside I looked like a hobo in an alley when he just won the lottery; unable to move in complete shock. Nodding, she began to walk back out of my office but I snapped out of my reverie and came around to hug her from behind. Startled, she jumped and turned around to glare at me. She was as beautiful as ever and I knew that I still wanted to be more than friends. Slowly, I bent down in an attempt to kiss her but she exercised self-control and put her fingers to my lips.

"I said we are only friends," she reminded me. Disappointed, I sighed and released her. Smiling, she turned back around and happily left the room.

--

Adela moved her stuff back into my apartment that afternoon. She did not have very many belongings so it did not take very long with Reno, Rude and I helping out. All Adela did was tell us where to put her things. I had noticed something rather strange about Reno and was rather curious about it so when he and Rude left, I asked Adela about it as I watched her unpack from the doorway to her bedroom.

"I noticed Reno had stopped trying to hit on you. The two of you act more like siblings. What's with that?"

She smiled as she placed her jeans in the bottom drawer of her dresser. "Yeah, when he discovered that I was the daughter of his best friend, he sort of backed off a little. I guess he thought it best not to get involved or father might bury his dead body in a junk yard, never to be seen again. But that doesn't mean that he still wants to." She sat back and sighed with a smile. "Unfortunately for him, my answer will always be no."

I felt a smile creep across my face. Poor, Reno; always trying to get a girl but never succeeding. He tries, _my _how he tries. He's always at the bar, every night attempting to get at least _one _girl to go home with him. At one point, he tried with the girl Yuffie but ended up getting himself beaten and unconscious for the rest of the evening. Sometimes I think the young Turk tries a little _too_ hard. If he would suck up his pride while at work, he might notice the lustful stares he receives from Elena but he usually just acts like she's not there and when they do talk, they end up arguing and Elena nearly always wins. I swear the two were made for each other.

For the next couple of months, I made it my priority to try inconspicuously to get the two together. Unfortunately, all my attempts seemed to have failed. I tried many things; getting Reno drunk on the weekends and pointing out girls-Elena to be exact-but he noticed right away. I also tried getting Tseng involved to talk to the two, and at one point I walked down the hall and "accidentally" bumped into Elena so that she would fall right into Reno but unfortunately, they had just ended and argument in which Elena won and as she fell, Reno just stepped aside and let her slam face first into the hard carpeted floor. Feigning an accident, I apologized sincerely to the blonde Turk and held out a hand to help her up, which she took almost warily. All the while, Reno was laughing hysterically at her.

All these attempts failed but that did not stop me from trying to get the two together. Eventually, I told Adela, and, after she stopped laughing, she agreed to help in any way she could. The only one left out in the cold was Rude. I did not trust the big man because he was Reno's best friend and would most likely tell the red-head and therefore my plans would go awry, even though all of them have already.

After four long, grueling months and about a hundred unsuccessful attempts with Reno and Elena, I walked into work one morning and noticed something out of the ordinary. As I passed the Turk offices, I saw the two youngest Turks talking. Wait, talking? Not arguing? Well this is certainly a turn of events. When did that happen? Pausing in the doorway to Reno's office, I stopped to listen in on their conversation in hopes of getting some information on what was going on. Elena began to laugh and Reno sat down at his computer, smiling as he did so.

"Here, I'll show you a video of that part." He then pulled up the internet, I believe, and typed in the URL to . "This is my favorite part of the whole movie; the Ballad of Sir Robin." I then heard the sounds of a rather ridiculous song emanate from the computer speakers. Something about a knight that wasn't scared of anything then the singer getting interrupted by someone saying that there was enough singing for that moment. Elena laughed again, this time a bit louder.

"I would really like to see this movie. Do you own it? Can I borrow it?" She smiled down at the red-headed Turk hopefully. Reno's smile turned into a devious smirk and suggested something else.

"How about I take you to see Spamalot instead? It's practically the same thing and it's coming to the live theater this weekend." He looked up at her smiling face. "What do you say?"

Elena pretended to think about it. "Are you asking me on a date?" she asked suspiciously.

"Only if you want me to," he replied in turn.

"Then yes," she answered, surprising Reno who almost fell out of his chair. "I'd love to go. Dinner first?"

"Alright, I'll pick you up at your apartment on Saturday and we can go to Tucano's at five, sound good?"

I did not stay to hear the rest of their conversation. I walked around the corner and heard a distinct squeal issue from Reno's office that could only mean that Reno had gotten really good seats for the play. The next day I came into work, I could have sworn that I saw the two holding hands. Success!

I came home that day to and saw Adela preparing to cook dinner. "Why don't we go out to dinner tonight, Adela?" I suggested as I set my briefcase down on the couch. She looked at me curiously.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because, we finally got success in getting Reno and Elena together. They're going to go see Spamalot this weekend and today they were holding hands. I think we've finally made a breakthrough with them."

A smirk began to inch its way across her face. "Spamalot, huh?" I nodded. "Well, that was my idea."

"It was?"

She nodded. "I suggested it to Reno two days ago at the bar. He seemed rather enthused about it, too. Came into the bar nearly in tears, walked right up to me and ordered a beer. Said he wanted to take Elena out sometime but didn't know how to ask her. So I suggested he go with asking her to dinner and a show. I didn't think he'd go with Spamalot, though. That was interesting."

I laughed. "Well, why don't we celebrate then? To your brilliant and successful plan on getting the two together. Here's to you, Adela." For only a short moment, I could have sworn that she blushed slightly but then quickly regained her composure.

"That sounds like an idea," she agreed as she put down the towel that she had been using to wipe the counter. "Alright, let's go. Just let me get my jacket and shoes and we'll be off." I waited for her to put her boots on and grab her jacket, then we headed out the door to my car parked out front and I drove us into Midgar for our evening out.

We arrived in Midgar half an hour later. I looked around the streets for a good restaurant but decided to ask Adela where she wanted to eat instead of deciding myself.

"Anywhere, really. Olive Garden sounds good."

"Sure thing." I did a U-turn and sped off back down the street because I had already passed the Olive Garden when Adela had suggested it. We arrived at the restaurant and asked for a table for two. As soon as we sat down, a young waitress came and asked for our drinks. Adela ordered a raspberry tea and I had a glass of red wine and water. Once our drinks were ordered, we picked up our menus. I decided to go ahead and order an appetizer of mozzarella sticks and calamari then I reached over to Adela's menu and pointed to the Pork Filettino; grilled pork tenderloin marinated in extra-virgin olive oil and rosemary served with Tuscan potatoes and bell peppers.

"You should try that, it's really good." Adela nodded but continued studying her menu in case something that sounded and looked better caught her eye. As for myself, I ordered the Capellini Pomodoro, which was an excellent blend of Roma tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil and extra-virgin olive oil tossed with capellini. Just the sound of it made my mouth water. We talked for a while as we waited for our food; mainly about how excited we were that Reno and Elena finally set aside their differences and realized their true feelings for each other. When our food came, we sat in silence for a few minutes while we ate, then Adela decided to make some small talk which turned into a conversation that lasted the entire meal. As we ate, our waitress brought us some delicious bread sticks and when we finished our meal, I ordered some dessert of White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake for the two of us to share because, to be honest, we were both too full to have one for each of us. While we were finishing our cheesecake, I asked for the check and paid it with a very hefty tip for our waitress. We left the restaurant and walked down the street back to my car.

"Why don't we take a short cut?" I asked Adela. She just shrugged and I turned into an alleyway that cut through the block so we could get to my car quicker. As we walked through the alley, we passed a few dumpsters and I noticed a lot of the garbage was overflowing out of the trash cans and onto the ground. "Wow, this place really is a mess, isn't it?" I said more to myself than Adela.

"Only because you made it this way." A new voice entered our midst and a man, no older than twenty-three by the looks of him, walked out of the shadows with and evil smirk on his face. As soon as the man revealed himself, Adela, who was slightly behind me and to my right, stepped behind my back as if to hide herself from the man that stood before us. The man then turned his attention from me to Adela. "Hello, Adela. My, we haven't seen you in a long time, haven't we?"

"What do you mean by 'we'?" I asked, my voice showing my frustration with the man. Who was he to make Adela hide behind me in fear? What was it about him that scared her?

"Oh, my apologies, Mr. Shinra. Did I forget to mention that there was more of me?" He swept his hand back as four more thugs stepped out of the shadows towards us and I could feel Adela grip the back of my coat and shiver as they came out, all wearing the same smirk as the first man.

"Who are you?" I asked angrily. "Who are you to Adela?"

"What, she didn't mention us to you? That's surprising, considering the things we've been through."

Then it clicked; a year ago, when I first met her, Adela had told me about a group of men who had tried to rape her but she had gotten away before they could do anything. Could these be the same men? I turned to face Adela who had hidden her face in my jacket. "Are these the men from a year ago who tried to. . ." I trailed off, not wanting to say it but apparently, I did not need to for Adela nodded and I turned back to the thugs with new found hatred. "You fucking bastards." I growled. The first man, who appeared to be their leader, smiled a devilish smile and put his hand inside his coat.

"Are you her knight in shining armor, or are you just a toy she found to piss us off?" The man then removed his hand from inside his coat, bringing a three-inch knife with it. The others followed suit, three more with knives and one with a small handgun. _Pitiful, _I thought to myself as my hand went behind me as if to hold Adela back but I smiled as I felt my fingers close around the cool handle of my twenty-gauge shotgun. "My name is Gun Sturgis, and I'm here to kill you and take the girl, so remember it because it will be the last name you hear."

"You said my name before, but do you have any idea what that implies? Do you, Mr. Sturgis?" The man hesitated, but then quickly regained his composure.

"President Rufus Shinra, do you honestly think that I should answer any question issued from the mouth of a man about to die?"

"I could ask you the same question," I said in retaliation. I then turned to the shaking girl behind me. "Adela, you might want to find a safe place to hide. This is going to get very dangerous, and whatever you hear, don't look, okay?" She nodded and ran off towards a dumpster, presumably to hide behind, however; this did not sit too well with our intruders.

"Hey! Get back here, girl!" They began to run after her but at that moment, I pulled out my shotgun and pulled the trigger, aiming into the mass of bodies expecting it to hit someone. It did; their leader, Gun Sturgis, got hit with the majority of the pellets in the gut. He doubled over, blood gushing out of his side and mouth, and fell, face down into the asfault. The goon with the small handgun shook with anger and pointed the tiny barrel at my abdomen. When he pulled the trigger, he was shaking so much that his aim was thrown off balance and instead of the bullet imbedding itself into my heart where it was meant to, the small piece of metal missed completely and only grazed my side. Unfortunately, even a graze can hurt terribly and I flinched when it tore open the skin but felt relief when it passed by me, completely off target of any vital organs.

Right after it passed, I heard a loud clang and a tiny yelp as the bullet embedded itself into the side of the dumpster that I had told Adela to hid behind, or in. I did not look back, I could not look back. Adela depended on me as my life depended on my actions here and now. Instead of looking back to see if she was okay, I aimed my shotgun towards the man with the handgun and fired. A loud, eerie scream issued out of the alleyway as the shotgun pellets hit the man full on in the face. Skin, tissue, and blood sprayed everywhere and splattered on the stone walls and ground and all over my suit. The rest of the thugs received a bit of gore and pellets and I licked my lips to moisten them and tasted the metallic flavor of blood. Not mine, but the other man's. It had been a long time since I had gotten blood on my hands and I was almost lost in the moment when I remembered that this was for someone else and not for myself. Still, it felt good to be able to fight again.

These goons were nothing compared to AVALANCHE. They were not very fast and easy to anger. If I shot one, the whole lot of them would charge blindly at me and that was when I could just peck them off one at a time. I shot one man in the stomach and my own insides almost lurched when he doubled over, grabbing at his abdomen in a vain attempt to keep the shattered remains of his intestines from spilling out onto the cold, stone ground. Another one went down rather easily when another bone-shattering round of shotgun pellets hit him in the side of the head. His skull fractured in many places and bits and pieces of the shattered bone flew off in many different directions. A few shards hit my cheek as I tried to move out of the way but was not quick enough and soon I could feel small droplets of warm blood streaming down the side of my cheek.

The last thug ran and scooped up the handgun that his comrade had dropped when I had shot him, spun around in one smooth motion and fired a bullet into my shoulder. I cringed but did not cry out. The fact that this lowly petty criminal could be as quick as to get even one bullet in my body angered me. That anger showing clearly in my eyes, I glared at the man and pointed my gun at his face, making him tremble in fear. I had never fired my shotgun this many times at once before and my arm began to ache from the strain of keeping the two-barrel muzzle of my gun steady. Yet somehow, I managed and was able to pull the trigger one last time. The man lurched backwards when I shot him point-blank in the forehead and the force of the gun shot the pellets through his head, exciting with an explosion of blood, bone, and brain tissue in the back.

I was just about to holster my gun when I heard a slight cough come up from the ground. Turning to my right, I saw the leader, Gun, sprawled out on the ground, a sadistic smile on his face; dry, crusted blood bordered his mouth and the wound in his side oozed thick with blood and gore as he tried to speak to me. "Heh. . .you're strong. . ." I walked over to him, rested my right foot on his dry-heaving chest-apparently he had rolled over onto his back while I was not looking-and pointed my shotgun, which was now in my opposite hand, at his face. The end of the barrels were only a few inches away from the end of his long, crooked nose.

"And what if I am?" I asked. I could not control my voice as is shook with anger. "You going to miraculously heal and jump up to kill me? I highly doubt it, seeing as you're already on the brink of death."

"You. . .think you're so great. . .working with. . .with the WRO to help heal the world." He paused to cough up another torrent of blood then continued. "But what does one. . .one who once was out to destroy it gain. . .from pretending to help it?" I hesitated, a little taken aback by his question and the look on his dying face told me that he thought he caught me red-handed in a lie, but I knew the answer and it definitely was not what he expected it to be.

"I'm not _pretending_ to help the world, I am helping the world. Shinra company and the WRO are working closely together to piece together every shard of this broken world that has gone amiss and are making very good progress. Seeing as the head of the WRO was once one of my top executives, we work pretty well together." I paused for a moment to let my words sink in. Sturgis' eyes grew wide at my last comment and I smirked down at him. "It's just petty criminals like you who are the ones who are intent on keeping this world in the state that it's in. You can choose to believe it, or not, I don't care, but you won't live to see the end." That said, I pulled the trigger of the twenty-gauge and let the blood splatter on my face and clothes, no longer caring what happened to my white suit. The escapade was over and I could finally rest my arms from the pain-causing force of my gun.

Taking a big sigh, I looked around once more at the surrounding blood-drenched alleyway, then turned my back on it and made my way over to the dumpster that Adela had so eagerly hid behind. Once she was in sight, I noticed that some of the blood had sprayed onto the outside of her left pant leg. Her jeans would have to be put in the wash several times before that stain came out. As for my clothes, I would never be able to wear them again without the massive blood stain showing for the entire world to see.

Squatting down in front of her, I reached a hand out to her to calm her down and to let her know that I was alright, but when my fingers touched her soft skin, she flinched and shyed away from me as far as the dumpster and the building wall would allow her. "Get…away," she began to say, terror in her voice. "Don't…" She was shaking out of fear I noticed, she must have thought that I was one of the men that I had killed. Roughly, but not too roughly, I grabbed her shoulders and shook her, forcing her face in my direction. However; her eyes were closed tightly and she tried not to open them. "Please…"

"Adela, it's me. You're safe," I told her softly. She seemed not to hear me so I repeated myself, this time a bit louder than the first. "It's me, Adela. You're okay." Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at me, the fear gone but her body was still shaking violently from shock. My hand found its way to her face and brushed aside the strands of dark hair that had fallen into her beautiful brown eyes. I placed my palms to the side of her head and leaned forward, touching my forehead to hers. "They're gone now, they can't bother you anymore," I told her confidently. "You're safe now." She stared into my own blue eyes as if searching for some hint of a lie. Finding none, she broke down and cried, extending her arms towards me and wrapping them around my body for comfort.

"I was so scared!" she cried. "I thought that they would kill you!" I let her tears fall from her eyes onto my suit, there was no way I would be able to wear it again anyway. Her sobs were quiet, but not sad. She cried from relief, not from fear or any other negative emotion. She was happy, happy that I was safe and that those men would never be around to bother her or any other person again.

Strangely enough, I felt happy as well. I had a warm feeling in my heart that I had never felt before. It felt good, I liked it. I had never felt this happy to help another before, it was strange but I felt like without it, something was missing from my life. I felt the need to do it again, to keep helping people. Sure, I got my share of helping people through my work with the WRO but somehow it did not feel like it was enough. I wanted to see the smiling faces of those that I help, to hear their thanks eminate from their lips in my direction. I really wanted it, and, thanks to Adela, I found the missing piece of myself that had long since been missing.

I wrapped my arms around Adela and returned her embrace. We stood there, in the dark and filthy alley for only a few minutes but it felt like days. I did not want to let Adela go but keep her in my arms forever. Unfortunately, if the mess in the alley were to stay the way it was, someone would stumble upon it and discover what I had done. That would be bad for me after I had worked so hard to change my image to the people that I was not a bad man but actually intended to help them. Even thought I only killed a bunch of lowly criminals, it would still look horrific to others. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my cell phone. I dialed a number and waited for the person on the other line to pick up. After two rings, I heard a click and then a deep voice say, "Rude speaking."

"Hello, Rude?" As soon as I said his name, Adela lifted her head to look at me in surprise. I just stared over her head at the bloody mess I had made. "I got in a little trouble on my way home from dinner, could you and Reno come over and clean up the mess in the alley behind Dunstan Street by the Olive Garden?" There was silence for quite some time and I could almost hear the gears grinding together in the big man's head as I suspected he was running through all the possible scenarios that could have happened in the alley.

"We'll be right there," he finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Thanks, Rude." I snapped the phone shut and looked at Adela. "We'll have to wait here until they arrive. We can't go off and leave this mess alone." She gulped and then nodded, nuzzling her face into my chest.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Yay! Finally, it's updated! Sorry it took so long, but I have been obsessed with Death Note lately, in case you have not noticed. I finished this one when my sister (FoxFire Pheonix) INSISTED that I finish it. **

**I'VE GOT ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT! HANG IN THERE, MY PEEPS!!**

Part 5 A Proposal

When Reno and Rude arrived, Adela released herself from my arms and ran straight for Rude. "Father!" she cried out as she grabbed him and he held her close. She looked like she was going to tear up again but closer study to her red and puffy eyes told me that she was not going to. Rude looked up at me almost accusingly, but I just shrugged and waved with a nervous smile on my face which must have told him all he wanted to know; what happened was not my fault.

Reno walked over to the bloody scene and surveyed every last detail, studied each body, and examined the blood spatter on the dumpster and the walls. "What a mess." He turned to me. "What did you do, boss?"

"Some thugs attacked us as we were taking a short cut back to my car." I growled. "They were the same men who attacked Adela a year ago and led to our meeting. Apparently they didn't like me very much."

Reno just chuckled and called Rude over to help him. The big man walked up to me, his face unreadable, and left Adela with me. "Thank you," he said without emotion. I raised an eyebrow at the older man. What did he mean? "For protecting my daughter." He then walked off and joined Reno with the cleaning of the street. Those two may have never liked clean up duty, but they were the best at leaving no trace of anything behind for people to find. That is why I called them there. Besides, I'd probably receive a long lecture about self control from Tseng if I called him.

I left the two to their work, taking Adela's hand; we took the long way back to my car. We walked around the block on the sidewalk so there were plenty of witnesses if we got attacked, which was highly unlikely out in the open. When we got to my car, I helped the weak and shaking Costa del Sol girl into the passenger's seat then went around and settled myself into the driver's side. Inserting the key into the ignition, I turned it and heard the engine roar to life then began our long drive back to Healin.

--

I unlocked the front door to my apartment and allowed Adela to enter before me. I gave her a brief hug after I shut the door then allowed her to rest up in her room. I needed to pull out the thug's bone fragments from my face before I took a shower and pulled myself into bed. I was used to things like this happening a lot so I was sure I would be able to sleep soundly tonight. However; I was not sure about Adela. She looked pale and her eyes still had a hint of traumatizing fear in them.

After Adela had hidden herself in her bedroom, I made my way to my bathroom, turned the water on for my shower so I could pick out the small pieces of bone while I waited for the water to get hot. As soon as I heard the spray of the showerhead, I removed my white, blood-stained suit and turned to my bathroom mirror in nothing but my boxers. Digging in my drawers, I pulled out a pair of tweezers and began to carefully pick at the shards of bone that had embedded themselves into my skin. After about ten minutes of digging, I managed to pull most of the fragments out, but some that I had trouble with remained. I was not going to be able to remove them unless I got help. Without thinking, I yelled for the only person around that could help me.

"Adela!"

She came almost immediately, as if she were just waiting for me to call her. When she entered, I held the tweezers out to her, as if expecting her to know what I wanted her to do. The look in her eyes told me that she did not. I sighed. "I need a little help pulling out the rest of the bone from my face," I stated. "Could you help me?"

Adela hesitated. For a moment, I thought that she would refuse, but then she nodded and took the tweezers from my hand, walked up to me and examined my face. "Where do you want me to start?" she asked.

"Anywhere, just remove the rest of the fragments for me."

"Alright." She sounded unsure but began anyway. To the best of my ability, I held my head as steady as I could. It was easier when I was the one picking at my face but when someone else was, it became a lot more difficult.

It was rather unnerving having her face so close to mine. I had to restrain myself from making any sudden movements towards her. It took a while but eventually ever single bone fragment was removed from my skin, the blood stopped flowing, and the tweezers were set back down on the counter top. She squatted down in front of me and raised her hand and touched my face ever so gently.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her own face full of worry. I smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine." She seemed like she did not believe me. I smiled down at her but her eyes began to water; apparently the events of just an hour before still affected her. She was still traumatized a bit from the bloodand gunshots from the alley.

"You can't be fine!" she cried, standing up, now staring down at me. "How can you be? You murdered five men!" The tears came freely now and flowed down her cheeks like rain running down a window. "I thought for sure you would die right in front of my eyes! I wouldn't be able to live if you did!" Where was she going with this? Did she mean what she said? Adela moved her face closer to mine slowly and gently kissed my lips. I was shocked. I had never expected her to do this. She said she only wanted to be friends now so why the sudden change of mind? "I love you, Rufus, how could you scare me like you did!?" She kissed me again but this time, I wasn't so shocked. She just wanted to hide her feelings for me from her father. Of course I would not be able to hide my feelings for her from her father but that was not what she was trying to achieve.

The shower was ready so while I was kissing her soft lips, I removed my boxers and backed into the shower with my arms wrapped around Adela. She was a bit startled when she felt the hot water soak her clothes but immediately warmed up to it and grabbed me around my middle. I thought it odd that she was in the shower with her clothes on but then again, I was the one who brought her in with me. She seemed to understand what I was thinking because she began to remove her wet clothes and toss them onto the floor on the other side of the shower curtain. Soon she was down to nothing but her bra and panties. I moved down to suck on her neck as I let my hands do as they pleased. They found the back of her bra and unhooked it, then removed the straps from her shoulders. Her body was pressed up against mine so the undergarment did not fall immediately but stayed there until I pulled it off, feeling down her smooth body as I did so.

She did not seem to care whether I undressed her or not. In fact, she seemed to want it. She kissed my collar bone and licked off the water that covered us both. It was almost suffocating to have the hot water beat down on our heads while we kissed. I learned to ignore it, though. I had Adela back, that's all that mattered to me at the moment.

I grabbed her hips and noticed that she still had her panties on. I slipped my thumbs in the waistband and pulled them down. They fell and came to a rest on the sopping wet floor around Adela's bare feet. I grabbed her butt and picked her up, allowing her to wrap her legs around my waist. She linked her arms around my neck and began to, almost forcefully, shove her tongue between my lips and tickly my own.

She continued to kiss me for several more minutes before she dropped her feet back to the tile floor of the shower. She released herself from me and smiled. "Thank you, Rufus," she said, her breath almost lost in the downpour of water from the showerhead. I stared back at her, obviously confused. Adela let out a slight chuckle. "For always being there for me," she added.

"You're quite welcome, Adela," I returned, my smile back. Turning around, I grabbed a bar of soap and handed it to her. "Here, wash up." She took it and gave me an odd look. "I accidently transferred some of the blood I had on me to you. You might not want that there." She nodded her acknowledgment and rubbed the white bar over her dark-tan skin. While she was washing her body, I busied myself with the shampoo and conditioner. The other man's blood had found its way into my hair as well as on my skin and clothes.

When we were done washing up, I turned the water off and stepped out, wrapped a towel around my waist and walked out of the bathroom to a small, hallway closet to get Adela a towel. Grabbing a fluffy, pink towel I had bought for her a while back, I returned to the bathroom to see her out of the shower and ringing out her hair. I could not help but stare at her wet body. Her skin seemed to gleam and sparkle from the light that reflected off the droplets of water that clung to her body. When she saw me, she smiled innocently at me and I felt my cheeks grow a bit warm. Shaking it off, I handed her the towel and she took it gratefully. She dried her hair first then, after wiping the water of her skin, she wrapped the towel around her torso, covering her from the breasts to just below her butt.

Walking past me, Adela gave me a quick peck on my cheek then continued down the hall to her own bedroom. I watched her until she disappeared through her door then I turned and headed for my own room. I immediately went to my dresser and pulled out my pajamas. It was a cold night and I was not in the mood for sleeping in just a pair of boxers. I slipped on my pajama bottoms, turned off the light, and then pulled the blankets of my bed back so I could crawl gratefully under the covers. I was longing for sleep; the events of the day left me exhausted and weary.

I was about to slip the sheets up over my bare chest when I heard a knock at the door. "Come in."

The door creaked open and Adela walked in. I wondered what she was doing when she walked around to the other side of my bed and pulled back the sheets.

"May I sleep with you?" she asked in a hopeful tone. I smiled and nodded before she slipped in next to me and almost immediately fell asleep. She slept on her side, her back turned to me and I slid over to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. Her hair had no specific scent to it but yet I could not help but think that is smelled lovely. It was warm, probably from the hairdryer she had used to get most of the excess water out of it so she could go to bed. I believed tonight would be the beginning of a brand new life for me and Adela.

--

The next day, there was no hiding the fact that Adela and I were back together. Rude was bound to find out eventually so I just outright told him. To my great surprise, he was not at all offended or angered by it, but relieved. It seemed that he thought Adela was happier with me than by herself.

Adela still kept her job at the Seventh Heaven Bar, though I do think that Cloud was too happy about having someone connected to me working there, but Tifa was kind and a wonderful employer, and she did not care about Adela's connection to me. An upside to having the girl working there was that I got discounts on all of my drinks, as did Rude. One day, a few months after Adela and I were dating again, I was feeling rather spontaneous; I actually bought drinks for everyone in the bar. Tifa was a bit surprised, but Adela was all too happy to serve us and laughed as she handed out the glasses. That night, I proposed to her and, with a tear-filled smile, she agreed.

**A/N: Yeah, I feel like something is missing from this chapter. But, if you like it, kudos to you. Enjoy.**

**Review!! If not, think of the worst way for you to die. I will do that to you times 100. I am dead serious.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Yeah, random chapter title. I was listening to Rescue by Eve 6 and got the idea for this last chapter. **

**_Like Jessica Rabbit_**

**_She corrects bad habits_**

**_Gets the drinks for free_**

**_Animated fiction _**

**_S_****_tole Cupid's arrow_**

**_And came to rescue me._**

**There you go, that is the chorus to the song. Any way, enjoy the final ending to the story!**

Part 6 Like Jessica Rabbit

I could not believe how beautiful Adela looked when I saw her walking down the aisle arm-in-arm with her father, Rude, at our wedding. The white, strapless dress she wore fit her perfectly and contrasted wonderfully with her dark skin. Her dark brown hair was pulled up loosely with a few strands in the back standing out in several different directions. Her face was blurred a bit from her veil, but I could tell that she looked more beautiful than she ever did to me before.

I was not wearing my everyday white suit, but instead I had on a typical black tux. I hated the thing. I seriously did not look good in black and could not believe that I was actually wearing it. I wished I could have worn white like my lovely bride, but it was not custom for the groom to wear white, so I was stuck with the worst color in the world.

Surprisingly, for this first time ever, Rude smiled when he gave the bride away to her new husband-to-be. Adela smiled back at her father before turning to me and taking my hand, her wonderful smile still on her face. As soon as her hand touched mine, all my senses were lost and I could no longer pay attention to anything but Adela. I smiled, and tried to imagine what she looked like behind her white veil. Nothing I imagined could compare to the real thing. When the preacher said the phrase "You may kiss the bride," I lifted Adela's veil to see the most stunning woman in all of Midgar, or even the world. Only a small amount of makeup was applied to her face and her chocolate-brown eyes looked into my gray-blue ones and shined with love only she could give. I smiled and bent down, almost shoving my lips onto hers with excitement.

Adela's hands rested on my forearms as we stood in our moment of bliss and I held onto her shoulders as if they were my lifeline. The crowd of guests cheered when we kissed but I did not pay attention to them. However; I could have sworn I could hear Reno yell at the top of his lungs, "Way to go, Boss!" I wanted to roll my eyes but refrained when Adela pulled away and smiled up at me.

Adela and I turned to face the crowd; I took her hand and began to walk down the aisle, the now twenty-year-old Costa del Sol girl at my side. We left the chapel at Healin and immediately crawled into a waiting limo, closely followed by Tseng and Reno, my groomsman, and Elena and Tifa, Adela's bridesmaids. The driver drove around for a while until we headed for the Healin Lodge to the reception.

At the reception, the food was great, the music was fun to dance to and everyone had a real good time. I could have sworn I saw a small tear on Rude's face when Adela and I cut the cake; other than that, the man was pretty much his usual self, quiet and stiff.

When Adela threw her bouquet, to her great excitement and disbelieve, it was caught by Elena. After that, during every single slow song for the rest of the night, she was seen dancing with Reno. I swear to God, the two make the perfect couple.

I noticed two of the guys from the former AVALANCHE sat in a corner by themselves for most of the reception until two girls, also from AVALANCHE, came and dragged them out on the dance floor. I noticed a small smile grace Cloud's boring face when Tifa came and almost literally dragged him onto his feet; but was quite surprised when Vincent actually _willingly _stood up and followed little Yuffie and danced with her for several songs before going back to his usual dark corner.

To me, the day could not have gotten any better than it was.

--

I walked out onto the coarse sand that had been heated all day long by the hot Costa del Sol sun. The small grains found their way between my toes and I squatted down and picked some of it up and let it run through my fingers. I had never been to the beach before and was fascinated by how beautiful it was, how "majestic," I guess one could say.

I remember when Adela and I first arrived in Costa del Sol for our honeymoon. We were greeted at the train station by a friend of hers; a girl by the name of Lupe with long legs and a rather muscular build. When Lupe spotted us, she raised her hand high in the air and called out to Adela.

"Hey! Adela, over here!" Immediately, my new wife turned her head to look in the direction of the voice, as did I. We passed through a mass of people to get to Adela's friend and when we did, Lupe looked me up and down and smiled a smile that made me a bit uncomfortable.

Adela put her bags down and embraced her friend. "Lupe, it's so great to see you!"

"It's great to see you, too!" Lupe smiled at Adela then turned to look at me. "So this is your new husband, huh?" Adela nodded. "Damn, he's handsome."

I smiled a sheepish grin at her words and tried to ignore her from that point on.

Back to the present, I felt the sand run through my fingers. It was rough and yet soft at the same time. It reminded me of Adela's skin; smooth, yet rugged at the same time.

I had on a pair of simple blue jeans torn at the knees and an open, button-up white shirt. The sun was warm, just beginning to set behind the horizon, and it warmed up my bare chest to where I felt comfortably content to be there. The wind was cool and blew into my face, wafting the salty sea air into my nose. It smelled wonderful; a lot better than the smog of Midgar.

I let the last of the sand flow through my fingers and rested my forearms on my thighs before I heard Adela call me from behind. I turned to watch her walk out the back door of the small seaside cottage we had rented out and she walked onto the wooden porch wearing barely anything at all. What she did have on was a bright yellow bikini with a see-through orange wrap tied around her waist. I must say that she looked really good in yellow. All I did was stare as she ran down the three wooden steps and onto the warm sand. Her bare feet kicked up sand as she ran towards me.

She stopped running and walked in front of me, blocking the view of the ocean from me and looked down at me, a happy smile on her face. I looked up at her and smiled back.

"I love you, Rufus," she said as she bent down at her hips. I rested my hands on her waist and her lips pressed against mine. She caressed my face before pulling back. I could have sworn that my heart skipped a beat while we kissed.

A devious smirk sketched itself across her face and she stood up and turned her back to me. I was a bit confused until she spoke again.

"If you want more than that," she began, removing her orange wrap and tossing it aside. "You'll have to catch me." She then ran off towards the sea. This should me fun. Standing up, I took off after her, my feet cooling down as soon as they splashed through the salty water. She was already deep into the ocean but that did not stop me. I took off my white, button-up shirt and swam out to her. I caught her in no time, stood up on a sand bar and wrapped my arms around her. I looked down at her surprised face and smiled.

"Looks like I get more than just a kiss," I said, fiddling with the strap of her bikini top.

She smiled back at me. "Looks like you do." All words said and out of the way, I kissed her on her plump lips. I could feel her smile into it and rest her arms on my shoulders. I did not realize that my hand had undone her bathing suit top until a wave came and crashed on top of us. Soaking wet, we stood up out of the water and as soon as Adela had wiped the water out of her eyes, she looked at herself to find that she had no top on and was flashing me. An evil smile spread across my own face when she looked up at me and saw the top in my hand.

"Jerk!" she cried out playfully as she tried to grab the bikini top from me. I quickly held it out of her reach. "Give that back!"

"Never!" I was having fun with this. Her words were angry ones but she did not act angry or sound angry, she was more enjoying what was happening than was mad about it.

Suddenly, Adela jumped on me and I nearly fell backwards into the water. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I held her up by my hands on her butt. She slammed her lips onto mine, apparently fired up. This was new for Adela, but I was not complaining. I thought it was rather fun.

Interesting though, it was my first time having sex in the ocean and I knew it would not be my last.

**A/N: _Well I kind of sort of saw the sirens coming_**

**_She was running towards me_**

**_Wearing almost nothing_**

**_And my heart beat skipped _**

**_When she bent down at the hip_**

**_And her lips pressed against mine._**

**Oookaaayyyy, that's interesting. At least they're married, right? Anyway, THE END! I hope you all enjoyed!**


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